Breaking news: With new federal ruling, DeKalb school leadership is now in legal limbo for time being
As we all expected, the DeKalb school board situation is getting messier. A federal judge is now saying that Gov. Deal can remove the six board members, but cannot replace them for the present.
Yikes.
It seems unlikely all the school members recommended for removal are going to drop their legal challenge to the state law allowing the governor to oust them over accreditation concerns.
If the DeKalb legal challenge follows the pace of a similar one filed by school board members in Sumter County, this could take months to resolve. Six Sumter school board members filed in December to halt state removal, but a court hearing has yet to be scheduled and they retain their seats.
DeKalb school board member Eugine Walker made it clear to the state Board of Education at its 14-hour hearing Thursday that he was not going to surrender his constitutional rights to seek redress in the courts if he was suspended from his elected post.
The AJC’s Ty Tagami reports that Walker said Sunday, ““I was elected by the people, but I work for God. I’m not going to surrender to a political lynching by a kangaroo court.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Story scheduled the federal hearing for 2:30 p.m. Friday. The Fulton Superior Court hearing before Judge Lee is 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
So, this situation now leaves DeKalb in limbo and prevents any real change to get under way.
A federal judge has issued an order that temporarily prevents Gov. Nathan Deal from replacing the DeKalb County school board members who were recommended for suspension by a state panel.
Judge Richard Story’s order refuses to restrain Deal from suspending the DeKalb board members, but enjoins implementation of any decision by the governor pending the outcome of a hearing Friday.
Deal previously called a news conference for 11 a.m. Monday to announce his response to a Georgia Board of Education recommendation Thursday to suspend six of nine DeKalb board members. That prompted DeKalb to file a last minute plea Friday for an order restraining the governor.
The judge’s order didn’t side clearly with either DeKalb or the governor, but it does give DeKalb some breathing room.
“If Governor Deal decides to appoint any new member to the board, that proposed member shall not be permitted to take office at this time,” said Story’s order, which was signed Friday and obtained Sunday by Channel 2 Action News. “Similarly, if Governor Deal decides to remove any current member of the board, that member will remain in office, but shall not be permitted to act on behalf of the board or take any other official action in his or her capacity as board member.”
The temporary order is in connection with a lawsuit DeKalb filed to stop the removal process. The suit, filed by the school district and former board chairman Eugene Walker against the Georgia Department of Education and Deal, contends that a 2011 state law allowing the ouster of elected local school boards is unconstitutional.
The law says the governor can suspend and ultimately remove any local school board that is recommended for suspension by the state education board because of risk to the local school district’s accreditation. The law authorizes the state to act only in districts that have been placed on “probation” by an accreditation authority.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed DeKalb on probation in December, alleging a host of governance problems.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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258 comments Add your comment
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
7:39 am
“he would be razing the dead at the Decatur cemetery”
If he had a bulldozer, he could “raze” the dead.
If someone would show him where the stumps are, he could “walk on water”.
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
7:40 am
“King called for people to judged not by the color of skin, but by the content of their character.”
Too bad the majority of the people of Dekalb county don’t believe in this.
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
7:42 am
“if the state with holds funding until the board resigns, win win for everyone. the voters of DeKalb have the option to keep the gang of six and do what they wish – within the realm of what the taxpayers of DeKalb can afford.”
AMEN, Bootney! Just remember, Dekalb, the limit on school property tax IS in the constitution, so any tax increases above that level IS unconstitutional. Also, remember that deficit spending (such as Dekalb has been doing) is ILLEGAL under the Georgia Constitution.
bootney farnsworth
February 25th, 2013
7:49 am
raze..opps. its early.
following the constitution -any constitution – isn’t in vogue these days.
perhaps if the state won’t freeze monies headed to DCSS until they get their act together, citizens and other counties should sue the state to compel it.
or on the grounds of the badly incorrectly used church and state separation bit. Gene works for God, after all.
William
February 25th, 2013
7:51 am
The likes of kris, my 2 dads in Decatur, trotter are the libs that voted these idiots in. I hope they enjoy their home values falling further.
William
February 25th, 2013
7:55 am
Says a lot about these liberals supporting the board. Their ideology is put before the children’s right to a decent education. SHAMEFUL!
bootney farnsworth
February 25th, 2013
7:56 am
@ mountain,
this yet another in a long litany of reasons why the state MUST install an independent (the reason it will never happen) advocate for employees.
during the Tricoli era at GPC we knew- and I mean knew- things were out of control. but the BOR didn’t want to hear it, and if you reported something to HR….well, lets just say it didn’t work out for you. so we were scared into silence, and now well over 600 people are out of a job, and the school
remains a hot mess.
think of DCSS, and multiply by a factor of 10 – same issues at work.
perhaps, just perhaps, if we had had a person/system in place who’s role was to investigate these things instead of making the complaints and the complainers go away…….we might have been able to avoid this.
William
February 25th, 2013
7:59 am
Trotter no one has time to read what u write, nor do we care
Who stands for the children?
February 25th, 2013
8:26 am
And in the meantime the legal fees are going up and up while the “children” play nana-nana-boo-boo–I-got-you. Please, DeKalb Board (and especially you, Mr. Walker), go quietly and with a little semblance of class. You people are tearing this county apart; you are harming our children, you are making us the laughing stock of Georgia, you are destroying property values and you are stunting county growth—-for what—power of office? Yes, it is troubling to even think that due process is being eroded here; yes, the voters did put you in office; but forgive them Lord for they know not what they did. There is no other choice. All this aside, again we beg you to let it go and get our children, our schools and the taxpayers out of intensive care and into the recovery room. There are worse things than eroding due process; we will get over it.
bu2
February 25th, 2013
8:38 am
@dekalbite
You’re blind to your own biases. You like Jason Carter so its ok for him to bring up race and party. If Fran Millar had said the same thing about Dunwoody, everyone would be jumping all over him. I’m against racial bias and looking at people only based on the color of their skin. I’m also really against injecting political parties into this (you can’t get rid of Atlantans obsession over race, but inflaming it is detrimental). Jason Carter isn’t interested in the students. He’s interested in the adults and getting reelected and is doing a disservice.
Dr. John Trotter
February 25th, 2013
8:40 am
I can see that some of you have some well-thought-out arguments about why these school board members should be removed. Not. You are so emotionally caught up in this thing. The same thing happened in Clayton County. The school board members there were illegally removed. The same law that was used on the Clayton School Board members was used subsequently on the Warren County School Board members to remove them, and the Georgia Supreme Court held in May of 2011 that this action against the Warren County Board of Education based on this law was unconstitutional.
Now you are trashing Judge Story. I haven ‘t done any recent research on him, but from what I have heard in the past, he is a man of great integrity and mettle.
I have not been trying to justify anything that any school board has or has not done. I just believe in the principle of one man, one vote. I don’t see how this reactionary Georgia Statute can pass Constitutional muster.
Now let me drink my coffee.
bu2
February 25th, 2013
8:41 am
Let me add, I haven’t seen Carter make this particular comment in print, but based on his other comments about the school board, I don’t doubt what has been posted here.
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2013
9:08 am
@Henry Turner, Check your email. I forwarded the original complaints to you.
Maureen
Jono
February 25th, 2013
9:09 am
It is a shame that Dr. Eugene Walker said, “I was elected by the people, but I work for God.”
DeKalb County need Board members who are willing to work for the students.
Truth in Moderation
February 25th, 2013
9:13 am
@Dekalbite
The corruption you point out is a MAJOR problem in public schools and is yet another reason to overturn the GEORGIA COMPULSORY EDUCATION LAW. You merely point out the tip of the iceberg.
Just look at what Senator Feinstein’s hubby is up to in California as REGENT of the U. Cal. system!
The teachers and and employees of the system need to closely watch THEIR PENSION FUND! I hear ITT Educational Services is a great stock to buy right now…..LOL!
ht tp://w ww.berk eleydaily planet.com/issue/2010-06-22/article/35661 (remove spaces)
As an update to this story, the U.S. Senate began a two year investigation into “for profit secondary school corruption”, back in 2010, the same month Blum’s firm was loading up on ITT shares at around $100/share. After 2 years AND THE RELEASE IN JULY 2012 OF THEIR SCATHING SENATE REPORT, including questionable practices at ITT, the stock PLUMMETED to around $16/share in Jan. 2013!
I wonder who is gobbling it up now? I think the Regent’s term is up in 2014…..
Deborah Chapman
February 25th, 2013
9:27 am
Does anyone know what the salary is for a Board Member? What expenses are they allowed as well? Haven’t seen this topic discussed.
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2013
9:30 am
@Deborah, I posted last week; the salary is $18,000 a year. They have travel expenses as well.
Maureen
living in an outdated ed system
February 25th, 2013
9:37 am
@John Trotter, you are in the vast minority here. I will NOT acknowledge your rants about SACS. I am also disgusted with the racial undertones on this blog post. So all you people out there who don’t want this board removed……did you read what @Johnny wrote? Do you really think the state should just sit idly by and let the school system lose its accreditation and let the 3rd largest school system in Georgia go into continued freefall?
@Bootney does raise a good point, although I don’t think it’ll come to that…which is for the state to withhold funding until changes are made. This is a legal and political “minefield” for the governor. He is damned if he acts, and damned if he doesn’t. I just want him to save this school system from its own incompetence. Then let the national ed reformers and policy experts continue to publicly lambast DCSS as example of a school system that is far outdated and in need of reinvention.
If the parent trigger was in place, I continue to believe DCSS would be the ideal test-bed for the legislation.
Dekalbite@Bu2
February 25th, 2013
9:48 am
“@dekalbite
You’re blind to your own biases. You like Jason Carter so its ok for him to bring up race and party. If Fran Millar had said the same thing about Dunwoody, everyone would be jumping all over him.”
I don’t “like” Jason Carter nor do I dislike him. I voted for him because he is a Democrat and the Republicans that have represented my area have not been in alignment with my political beliefs (nothing to do with schools – there are SO many other local, state and national issues). Getting hung up on race would be foolish if we have an opportunity to replace the inept (and according to the state auditor individuals who voted for a deficit acted against the law) and non student centered individuals with fiscally responsible and classroom centered members.
I like the actions that Fran Milnar has taken to help the citizens of DeKalb. He has been a staunch supporter of diverting resources back into the classroom and seems to have been listening to and reading the data Nancy Jester has published on her website. While some have criticized Nancy Jester for her “arguing” with the BOE, IMO – Nancy consistently voted for financial transparency, cutting an overpaid and overstuffed bureaucracy and placing our resources back into the classroom. Of all people, she has IMHO – played the least amount of politics in children’s lives.
DeKalb Inside Out
February 25th, 2013
10:10 am
Here’s the Complaint For Injunctive Relief on WSB website filed by the DCSD Board lawyers. This is the meat of the request:
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-73 is silent regarding any criteria to be applied by the SBOE in
conducting [the hearing described in 20-2-73] and making its recommendation regarding suspension.
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-73 does not require any showing of any sort of malfeasance in office by
any member of the local board in order for the SBOE to recommend suspension of the local
board.
O. C. G.A. § 20-2-73 does not even provide for any individualized assessment of the acts
or omissions of individual local board members. Instead, the statute contemplates suspension of
the entire local board en masse.
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-73 even contemplates suspension of local board members that take
office after the local district is placed on probation. O.e.G.A. § 20-2-73(e) (”This Code Section
shall apply to all local board of education members, regardless of when they were elected or
appointed. “)
COUNT I
OCGA § 20-2-73 Unconstitutionally Provides for Appointed. Not Elected
Board of Education Members
The Georgia Constitution specifically requires that local board of education members be
“elected as provided by law.” Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VIII, § V, Paragraph 2
COUNT II
O.C.G.A. § 20·2·73 Creates an Unconstitutional and Unprecedented
New Process for Removal of Elected Local School Board Members from Office
Without any Showing of Misconduct or Lack of Qualifications
Throughout the history of the State of Georgia, all qualifications for elected office have
been individualized to the elected official, such as residency and absence of felony conviction.
Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VIII, § V, Paragraph 2; Art. II, § II, Paragraph 3; Art. II, § III.
COUNT III
OCGA § 20-2-73 is Arbitrary, Capricious and Fails to Provide Due Process
Elected officials have a property right in their office that cannot be taken away without
due process. United States Const., Amend 14; Northway v. Allen 291Ga. 227 (2012).
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
10:24 am
Count I-
The Georgia Constitution already contains section on when elected officials may be removed from office. Their repalcements are addressed:
Unless the Governor is the public official under suspension , for the duration of any suspension under this Paragraph, the Governor shall appoint a replacement official except in the case of a member of the General Assembly.
It does not say they have to be elected except for members of the General Assembly.
Count II – I believe that having your school system placed on probation by SACS (one in a thousand) is clear proof of misconduct or at least lack of qualifications. Individuals don’t matter here – this is a team – the Board acts as a whole.
Count II – are they really claiming that their right to office is a property right? But property rights can be removed after due process, which was what the SBOE hearings were.
Who stands for the children?
February 25th, 2013
10:25 am
Dr. Trotter: Hope you enjoyed your coffee. Question: is it so bad to be “emotionally” caught up in a situation that involves our children. THAT is what this is all about. It’s also all about a group of people who apparently think DeKalb County taxpayers are issuing blank checks to them. You do make good points about the sanctity of the voting process and our Constitution. Further: doesn’t it state somewhere that financial malfeasance in office is grounds for dismissal, whether it be an individual or a group? It has been proven that this group has committed malfeasance; the budget in a horrible state; not to mention running up legal fees (do we really want to know the TOTAL amount that has been expended thus far?)
Now, adding insult to injury, paying a big billing law firm a huge amount to instruct these people how to do their jobs? Consider: a judge or a congressman, or other office holder elected by the people, committing malfeasance in office and a higher authority removing that person, have we eroded the voting process or trod over our Constitution? So, what is the difference in the judge, etc. and the DeKalb Board? In short, Doctor, to remove this Board for reasons outlined above, is not slapping our Constitution in the face, nor eroding our voting process. It is simply doing our duty.
Disgusted in Dekalb
February 25th, 2013
10:35 am
So if Eugene Walker views himself as being “lynched,” does he view Nancy Jester as being “lynched” also?
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
10:38 am
“So if Eugene Walker views himself as being “lynched,” does he view Nancy Jester as being “lynched” also?”
Silly Disgusted, everyone knows you cannot lynch a white person!
Dr. John Trotter
February 25th, 2013
10:43 am
Malfeasance? O. K. Initiate a recall petition or petition Mr. Robert James, the DeKalb D. A., to investigate the situation. But, don’t turn over the sovereignty of the DeKalb Board of Education and School System to some “outside influence” private company that is not answerable to the People of Georgia.
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
10:46 am
“don’t turn over the sovereignty of the DeKalb Board of Education and School System to some “outside influence” private company that is not answerable to the People of Georgia.”
The law does not state “SACS” or name an “outside influence private company”. It just says accrediting agency. If you don’t like SACS, why not push the Legislature to create an in-house accrediting agency? (of course, to be effective, it would have to meet the scrutiny of local and regional colleges and universities).
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
10:48 am
for the governor to fall and for Walker to win would be the ultimate troll.
Troll: “One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.” http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=troll
Walker is like the unltimate internet troll with his dramatic one liner and then other people react.
Too bad the school board system functions as an exploit where trolls can play power. Georgia is suffering lack of regulatory definition and the code book default is “discretionary performance.” Those who say DeKalb voters should get what they deserve, I think the same is true for the state. The state has the duty of greater structure and regulation, not the county.
dekalbite
February 25th, 2013
10:48 am
Why are they not being investigated and prosecuted for running a financial deficit for 8 months (July, 2012 until today when they say they will balance it)? Why is this not financial malfeasance? They broke this law from July, 2012 until now – this morning they are trying to rush through a plan to balance it. Will it really be balanced? Can we trust the figures? They said the budget was balanced before but the following did not happen:
Per Georgia law:
“the sum of estimated revenues and appropriated fund balances is equal to appropriations.”
This is the essence of balancing the budget. Holding a Reserve Fund is critical so if your “estimated revenues” projection is off, you do not run a deficit. DCSS BOE members completely depleted the Reserve Fund so they had to be completely precise on the appropriations. This was a conscious choice on their part. running a deficit in a school system is very serious and safeguards have been put in place to ensure school system BOEs do not allow their systems to fall into deficit status.
Nancy Jester told them in numerous BOE meetings that they were consistently UNDERestimating the appropriations in the millions every year for legal fees and energy expenses and showed them historically how they ALWAYS for YEARS had UNDERestimated those expenses. Therefore they had the evidence in front of them that the budget would run a deficit. Yet they continued to rely on numbers they had been shown were inaccurate. That’s just math and one of the facts that Nancy pointed out that SACS used as financial mismanagement. In fact they were not in compliance with Georgia law.
If you are by law supposed to balance the budget yet you continue to underestimate expenses that you have been shown will bring the budget into a deficit, IMO – that is not following the law.
Read the law below and see if you think they followed it:
http://www.audits.ga.gov/NALGAD/36812-6.html
“(a) The governing authority shall establish by ordinance, local law, or appropriate resolution a fiscal year for the operations of the local government.
(b) (1) Each unit of local government shall adopt and operate under an annual balanced budget for the general fund, each special revenue fund, and each debt service fund in use by the local government. The annual balanced budget shall be adopted by ordinance or resolution and administered in accordance with this article.
(2) Each unit of local government shall adopt and operate under a project-length balanced budget for each capital projects fund in use by the government. The project-length balanced budget shall be adopted by ordinance or resolution in the year that the project initially begins and shall be administered in accordance with this article. The project-length balanced budget shall appropriate total expenditures for the duration of the capital project.
(3) A budget ordinance or resolution is balanced when the sum of estimated revenues and appropriated fund balances is equal to appropriations.”
DeKalb Inside Out
February 25th, 2013
10:50 am
Mountain Man
I just want to be objective and do this by the books.
Count 1
Your quote references elected officials convicted of a felony.
Count 2
SACS put them on probation, but “O.C.G.A. § 20-2-73 is silent regarding any criteria”. I think the lack of stated criteria in law is where they are going with that.
the Board acts as a whole. – I hope you’re not suggesting that any voting body that votes together can be removed en mass and replaced with appointees. The entire state senate or entire state legislature can be removed with one hearing and then appointed by the Governor?
Property Rights – You’ll notice that many things are viewed as a property right, like the right to smoke in a public place is a property right.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
10:51 am
Dr. John has changed footing, moved an inch!!!
“petition Mr. Robert James, the DeKalb D. A., to investigate”
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:02 am
Urban school board is troll heaven for elected political trolls.
__________________________________________________
Common examples of trolling (modified) :
The long-term troll:
These guys don’t mind waiting around for the fun to begin. They may pretend to be an average n00b, and give themselves the stereotypical interest(s) of the average member of said (governing) forum, then once having a few posts they will gradually try to spread dissent.
The sophisticated troll:
This type will usually have some sort of distaste for whatever the said (governing) board is discussing and try to cause annoyance as opposed to destructiveness. They will parody the members and see how much they can get over their heads.
_________________________________________________________
different subject. I’m having a good chuckle at the school administrators who say, “it sure is hard to get rid of a bad teacher.”
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
11:05 am
“Your quote references elected officials convicted of a felony.”
Yes, the quote (from the Constitution) was for elected officials who are removed for felonies, but I am putting it in there to counter the argument that appointing replacements is not allowed, that only elections can put people in office. The procedure for removing the Board is a LAW, not in the Constitution, but there is nothing (I could find) limiting the legislature to not creating such a law. If there is, please opoint it out.
The criteria is right there in 20-2-73: “if a local school system or school is placed on the level of accreditation immediately preceding loss of accreditation for school board governance related reasons by one or more accrediting agencies”
Board as a whole? Sure they should be removed as a whole. Do you honestly think that they should examine the voting records of each individual member and say Walker voted for Atkinson’s hire so he needs to go, but Jester continually voted against the impractical (and illegal) budgets, so she gets to stay? The only ones who could make a claim that they had absolutely no culpability are those who are new.
OriginalProf
February 25th, 2013
11:13 am
I think that the compromise suggested by state Senator Jason Carter is an excellent one, designed to deal practically with this situation in a way that will actually impact the students now, rather than having the case drag out in court with the inevitable appeals and a huge lawyers’ bill at the end. Carter proposed to Deal’s office that they keep the present board but monitor it closely in “a tightly controlled agreement” if the legal challenges by the other side are dropped (AJC, Feb. 25).
This would sidestep the issue of the Governor replacing elected officials with appointed ones; it would avoid the political and racial landmines involved in his doing this; it would also effectively place the local county BOE under state control. As Jason Carter said: “It’s a very tough task to ask the governor to remove people who are duly elected.”
Carter’s proposal seems bipartisan in the best sense, and very cagy politically. I would not be at all surprised if the experienced senior Carter suggested it to him.
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
11:14 am
“Why are they not being investigated and prosecuted for running a financial deficit for 8 months (July, 2012 until today when they say they will balance it)? Why is this not financial malfeasance? ”
I agree, Dekalbite, why are they not being prosecuted? I would think voting for a budget you knew was illegal would be an illegal act in itself.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:15 am
Mountain Man, Apparently Judge Story’s decision to inflate the rented party play room is based on the idea of challenging this new fresh law. Ready to jump up and down? Whoopee. Oh wait, a minute. Adults are supposed to be adults and party rooms are for kids. And laws ought to be vetted before they are made part of the state constitution. Hey, let’s build a bridge and then later go back and look at the specifications and decide if we want to tear it down. Are people in Georgia just stoopid or something? I know a lady who moved to Georgia from Aspen and right before she left Georgia, she said, “Are the people just stupid or something?” And she was referring to the higher side of the people. She made an effort to live in Georgia, honest, she did. She got angry after she gave money to a civic interest and a year later the civic interest went out of business. Was Georgia originally a colony where they sent criminals or something? And their kid are still running the place? The people writing Georgia Legal Code were cooks, they’d bee cooking sweet-muffins full of salt. Here, have a sweet-muffin, sweetie.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:16 am
It’d be nice if someone would get off their back-side and enforce the law.
Mountain Man
February 25th, 2013
11:17 am
“I think that the compromise suggested by state Senator Jason Carter is an excellent one”
So you want to kick that can down the road some more? What about the next school system that goes on probation? I say lets have it out in court and prove that this law is constitutional and get rid of Walker and Company.
Truth in Moderation
February 25th, 2013
11:17 am
@living in an outdated ed system
“If the parent trigger was in place, I continue to believe DCSS would be the ideal test-bed for the legislation.”
Thanks for tipping your hand as to your (supported?) agenda.
DeKalb and Clayco are examples of the tried and true methods of the CHANGE AGENTS: Create or use an existing problem (in DeKalb’s case, a little of both), ADVERTISE IT HEAVILY, have your SOLUTION readily at hand. This is where the unconstitutional amendment (using an unelected 501c3 charity monopoly, the State Board and the Governor) came from. THE BRILLIANT DEKALBITES FELL FOR IT HOOK LINE AND SINKER! Now the whole state suffers for your ignorance.
GO AHEAD, PULL THAT “TRIGGER”. HA HA! YOU WILL SHOOT YOURSELVES IN THE FOOT!
Who stands for the children?
February 25th, 2013
11:19 am
So, it would appear that you recognize malfeasance. Don’t need to recall; don’t need to bother Mr. James with it. Clearly stated before, as with any other office holder duly elected by the people who commit this dastardly deed, they can be removed by a higher authority with no damage to our voting rights or our Constitution. A matter of simply taking away cushy jobs from people who (well, not all of them—but the majority) either can’t or won’t carry out those duties in the interest of the schools. In short, what the voters expected of them.
Dunwoody Mom
February 25th, 2013
11:20 am
Time for compromise with the DCSS BOE is over – the School District has been “on advisement” for 2+ years and this BOE has failed to change its behavior. Why would anyone believe they could change now? Mr. Carter’s “compromise” ignores any reality about the present BOE.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:23 am
Trolling (modified) applied to rogue school boards:
The true objective of trolling is to be clever and creative in getting a reaction out of the troll victims.
Skilled trolls especially like trolling large-scale (agencies) such as (county government) where it is harder to get banned.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:28 am
Will be good when the hearing video is formatted and put online and common folk can view the school board members in action and how they answer simple autonomous questions with loads of personal intrigue.
State DOE website seriously needs to lose the Real Player format. That junky obsolete software does not play nice with the computer. I told my super-nerd researcher friend about state DOE requiring Real Player, and friend said, “Oh that’s just because some incompetent I.T. person messed up.”
DeKalb Inside Out
February 25th, 2013
11:28 am
I’m just saying the Constitution supersedes OCGA Law. If we want to appoint replacements for elected officials, not just those convicted of felonies, we should change the constitution.
Criteria – The lawyers are saying there is no codified criteria for being placed on probation.
Removing the board as a whole – I think elected officials of all the various offices should be treated similarly (except judges – different standards). If we can remove the board as a whole, then we should be able to removed the legislature as a whole. If the Governor can appoint a whole new board, then he should be able to appoint a whole new legislature.
I agree that holding hearings for each elected official would be long and arduous, but we are talking about removing elected people from office. We are talking about revoking the will of the people. Seems like we should have a high standard for that.
I don’t know. I’m very conflicted with all of this. I’m just about at my wits end with the DCSD board, SACS and the State Board. I’ve always considered myself an upstanding citizen. I feel dirty watching all of this.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:31 am
If we made a telephone campaign about state DOE requiring Real Player software for a member of the public to view hearing videos – a matter of public record, if interested parties called then once a day every business say to ask them to change the format, they might do it.
There is absolutely no reason they can not post their public meetings in YouTube with “no comments.” Or some other autonomous web method that does make people install crappy software on their personal computers just to access the content.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:39 am
I’ve always considered myself an upstanding citizen. I feel dirty watching all of this.
That’s because you’re getting trolled by master troll Dr. Eugene Walker. I’ve seen the same level of troll mastery heading a university academic department, where you, the victim, feel “dirty” and know something is way the hell off base, and meanwhile the troll has a big smile, is acting official like everything is business as unsual – since they are now in power and have pushed everyone else off the cliff with a bulldozer before implementing things to advantage themselves.
That’s what needs to be investigated. Is Mr. Walker profiting in some way by his “called by God” position? What’s going on here? What’s “with this guy?” I know the university department person was making students buy photocopied binders @ $85. a whack, and called it a textbook. (THANK YOU University System of Georgia Board of Regents for Absolutely No Guardianship of Students in This Regard).
Truth in Moderation
February 25th, 2013
11:40 am
@Who stands for the children?
WELL SAID!
DeKalb has a CRIME problem. Where are the PROSECUTORS?
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:47 am
FBI is pretty clear that one of their duties is looking into corrupted local government.
I’ll tell you what I think. Back when Erol did his crude power play in Buckhead, the general populace was still pro-Obama. In the brief time, since that happened, many people see Obama as a fake and are waiting for his term to be done. As the sacred “Obaba – it is our time” motif is basically now gone, the governing agencies will not stand up to the Errol Davis School of Management and Eugene Walker School of Applied Finance and stop getting bullied by these turkeys.
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:48 am
pardon the typos. “the governing agencies will now stand up to… stop getting bullied by these turkeys.”
Private Citizen
February 25th, 2013
11:53 am
Mr. Walker’s version of God is when you put your palms up toward the sky and slowly move your arms back and forth and have a spirit-gasm.
Mr. Walker’s attorney’s version of spirit-gasm is a very quiet smile when you issue a huge invoice and someone actually writes you a check for it and you cash the check and the money is in your account and you send a receipt letter that says, Thank You! Please Call Again. And they do.
Chamblee Dad
February 25th, 2013
12:41 pm
Obviously God takes sides on school board elections & lawsuits, just like he does in sporting events & music awards. Sorry DCSS school children kids, Walker’s God picks him instead of you. Scoreboard!